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The vehicle's name, "Gawalek A36". is written just under the cockpit.[4] It has "D1110W" written on the side, which is like the license plate of a car. This plane has an antenna, while the STAG version does not.

From front to back, this aircraft contains: the cockpit; an office; a corridor; the cargo bay.

There is only one Steelport Airlines plane in the game, owned by Phillipe Loren. It is the plane where The Protagonist, Shaundi and Johnny meet Phillipe Loren.[6][4] After the Saints escape, the plane ultimately lands safely.[7]

In the mission "Air Steelport", Viola DeWynter lets The Protagonist use it as a means for them to intercept and sabotage STAG's incoming fleet of F-69 VTOLs and cargo planes. An incident which contributes heavily to the events of the following mission: "Zombie Attack". After The Protagonist parachutes out, Viola and the plane ultimately land safely.

From a technical standpoint, there are 3 variants of the Steelport Airlines plane.[8]

The vehicle in the cutscene at the beginning of I'm Free - Free Falling, is a variant with the rear door closed. After falling through the plane, the vehicle flying away is a variant with the rear door open.

The same plane in the "Air Steelport" mission is a third variant of the same base vehicle.

From a technical standpoint, all STAG versions are variants of the same plane.

Surveillance Aircraft

This variant has a large black radar over its back, but is otherwise identical to the STAG cargo plane. The objective marker refers to it as "Surveillance Aircraft", while a line of dialogue refers to it an "AWACS".

The STAG Surveillance Aircraft is featured in the final portion of the mission "Convoy Decoy".

When shot in the back by an F-69 VTOL, the plane might violently bounce up and down and then resume flight as if nothing happened, as it is on a scripted path.

Cargo plane

An entire fleet of these aircraft with STAG livery appear in the opening cutscene for the mission "Air Steelport". One of the STAG planes is singled out for attack and ultimately crashes into Arapice Island, rupturing containers stored at the Ultor Chemical and Waste Disposal Plant, which causes a zombie outbreak. The partly burning wreck stays on the island forever, never burning out.

"AWACS" is a real life term which stands for "Airborne Warning and Control System", pronounced as "A-Wax". Real AWACS aircraft are only used for air surveillance missions, it would never be used to locate a vehicle convoy in an urban environment. However, a similar radar carrying airplane, the E-8 J-STAR, does keep track of ground movement except it places the radar in a long canoe like apparatus on the bottom of the aircraft. AWAC aircraft such as the E-3 Sentry can keep track of ground targets, just far less effective especially in urban settings since it places its radar above the aircraft, causing large blind spots when viewing downwards towards the ground.

Missions which occur within the interior of the plane do not literally take place inside the vehicle, but within a special interior.